Have my eyes set on a new 2011 GT later this year, but I wonder about the lack of rear airbags (no rear curtain from what I just read).
I will have my son in the back seat from time to time for short trips to school and errands, so should this be a worry? I know the car has a good crash rating, but why does it not have rear curtain when both the Chevy and Dodge do?

Has anyone on this board looked into this and made a decision one way or the other (I didn't see much with a search, other than crash test videos).

Just looking for thoughts….

Thanks,

 

One thing is for certain they wouldn't have put it in for free. Perhaps they didn't add rear seat air bags and/or curtain to keep the price down. Even as an option they would still have to be tested and approved by DOT or whoever the approving authority is and that cost a lotta cheese.

 

While I like side airbags, I wouldn't let the lack of them stop me from buying a car. But I'm used to cars that have no airbags at all.

 

The fact is, the Mustang has Front Seat Mounted Side Air Bags that fire forward and up. To do Curtain type, they would have to start out from scratch.

I'd guess this change is somewhere in the plans within the next few years though as not having rear side air bags is the only thing keeping the Mustang from getting all GOOD crash ratings from IIHS ... on a 2010 Mustang Coupe, Rear Passenger Head and Neck is "Marginal" and Rear Passenger Head Protection is "Acceptable" rather than "Good". Other wise all other ratings are "GOOD", which is much improved from earlier ratings for 2007~2009.

FYI ... IIHS still does NOT have ratings for the 2010 Camaro, 2009-10 Challenger, or 2010 Genesis Coupe.

and with NHTSA ...
Mustang Coupe gets 5-Stars for ALL 5 Tests vs.
Challenger has 4 5-Star and 1 4-Star (rollover)
Camaro has 2 5-Star, 2 4-Star and 1 Not Tested
Genesis Coupe has 3 5-Star, 1 4-Star, 1 Not Tested

The others may SOUND SAFER based on the side curtain air bags, but are NOT safer per NHTSA and have not even been tested by IIHS.

Doug

 

Also, the 2011 rear headrests are supposed to improve those rear crash tests...

 

I originally assumed that was the reason Ford changed the rear head rests too, but then realized these are SIDE IMPACT Head and Neck Injuries ... NOT REAR IMPACT.

So unless these new rear head rests do some fancy 90 rotation one way or the other on side impact to cushion the head and neck (like a Side Curtain Air Bag would) they will likely NOT help improve these two tests !!

Doug

 

Curtain air bags also would have been coupe only (obviously can't have side curtain air bags on a convertible), which would have added cost and complexity.

 

Thanks for the reply Doug.

That helps a lot in setting my mind at ease.
You also have a point, my current car doesn't have curtain airbags either now that I think about it (although my wife's does, that was the main thing she was concerned about).

Good to know that the saftey rating on the Mustang is up there when compared to it's peers.

Regards

 

As overkill as the Chally & Camaro chassis are and their added side curtain air bags, I was quite surprised when I first saw that they were NOT all 5-Star rated like the 2010 Mustang Coupe.

Ford obviously takes this stuff a little more seriously than the guys across town !!

Doug